In Jane Haseldine’s gripping and brilliantly crafted
debut, a reporter searching for her kidnapped son must
untangle the connection to her brother’s long-ago
disappearance.

Julia Gooden remembers nothing about the worst night of
her life. Thirty years ago, her nine-year-old brother Ben
—the person who promised he would always protect her—was
abducted from the room they shared. Try as she might to
recall any clue or detail, there is a black hole where
Julia’s memories of that terrible event should be.

Now a crime reporter at a Detroit newspaper, Julia tries
to give others the closure she’s never found. But guilt
and grief over Ben’s disappearance have left her fearful
that whoever took her brother is going to come back.
Nowhere seems safe—not the city, not the suburbs, not
even the secluded lake town where she plans to raise her
children. And then, on the anniversary of Ben’s
disappearance, Julia’s worst fears are realized when her
two-year-old son, Will, is snatched from his bed.

Convinced that the crimes are related, Julia tries to
piece together memories from her final day with Ben. Are
the sudden reminders of her brother clues that will lead
her to her son’s abductor, or merely coincidence? Julia
knows she has hours at best to find Will alive, but the
deeper she digs, the more personal and terrifying the
battle becomes, and an undying promise may be her only
hope of saving herself and her son.